Fluid jet sustained and controlled aircraft



W. P. PERRY May 19, 1959 FLUID JET SUSTAINED AND CONTROLLED AIRCRAFT Filed July 12, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Willard 1?. Perry 90 INVENTOR.

May 19, 1959 w. P. PERRY 2,387,284

FLUID JET SUSTAINED AND CONTROLLED AIRCRAFT Filed July 12, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i I F .5 Li 26 40 Willard]? Perry 5 INVENTOR United States Patent 2,887,284 FLUID JET SUSTATNED AND CONTROLLED AIRCRAFT Willard Parker Perry, Trenton, NJ. Application July 12, 1955, Serial No. 521,531 1 Claim. (Cl. 244-23) This invention relates to high velocity blowers or fan units and to the distribution and application of air pressure generated by such units to the horizontal surfaces of conveyances for relieving the atmospheric pressure therefrom to overcome gravity and thus accomplish the lifting of the conveyance into the air.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide means for the application of air pressure to the top surface of a conveyance which will create powerful vortexes over portions of the surface capable of effecting a substantially greater reduction of the atmospheric pressure on the surface than has been possible with apparatus for that purpose heretofore developed.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an improved blower or fan construction by means of which a greater volume of high air pressure can be generated than with air pressure generators heretofore available.

A further object of the invention is to provide a high pressure fan unit with a volute chamber in which the rotating fan blades act upon the air inflow throughout substantially a complete revolution of the fan blades, thereby progressively building up the pressure to the maximum for discharge through the enlarged discharge outlet.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following specification and reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a conveyance with one embodiment of my improved gravity control apparatus applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same with the front wall of the conveyance partly broken away to show certain interior parts;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail view of one of the angularly adjustable air discharge nozzles attached to a conveyance;

Fig. 5 is a sectional end view of my improved blower or fan unit taken on the line 55 of Fig. 6, but including a dotted outline of the air inflow pipe to show its location; and

Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings in which like numerals designate like parts or elements in the several views, 10 is a conveyance having a roof 12, a floor 14, side walls 16 and end walls 18. Mounted on the floor of the conveyance is a high pressure blower or fan unit 20 including a volute casing 22 having an opening 24 at one end and closed at its other end. An air inflow pipe 26 is enlarged at its lower end to form an inwardly facing opening 28 (Fig. 6) slightly larger in diameter than, and sealed over, the opening 24 in the end of the casing. The pipe 26 extends longitudinally of the conveyance through one of the end Walls 16 to the atmosphere. An air pressure discharge pipe 30 extends in the opposite direction from that of the inflow pipe and communicates with a manifold 32 which, in turn communicates with the open 2 end of a volute chamber 34 formed in one side of the casing 22, as more clearly shown in Fig. 5.

The air discharge pipe 30 may be provided with a central partition 36 which extends longitudinally from the outer end of the pipe to the throat 38 of the manifold 32 thereby dividing the pipe into two conduits. Control valves 40 are pivotally mounted in the respective conduits and may be operated by handles 42 to close either of the conduits either fully or partially to regulate the flow of air pressure through the respective conduits, as conditions may require.

A shaft 44 extends axially through the casing 22 and may be connected through pulleys 46 and 48 and belt or sprocket 50 to a motor 52 (shown in Fig. 2 and in dotted lines in Fig. l) for power rotation of the shaft 44, which projects through a tubular housing 54 which housing extends from end to end inside the casing 22 and is fixed to the shaft to be rotated thereby. Fixedly mounted also on the housing 54 are spaced radial fan blades 58, all the blades being rigidly connected to disks 60 which are provided with central openings 62 of substantially the same diameter as that of the opening 24 in the end of the casing 10. The diameter of the disks 60 is such that when mounted in the casing 10 the outer edges are very slightly spaced from the inner wall of the casing at 64, which is substantially horizontally opposite the center of shaft 44. From that point a volute 66 gradually increases in radius until it forms a space merging into that of the volute chamber 34, as shown in Fig. 5. The outer edges of all of the blades 56 and 58 coincide with the outer peripheries of the disks 60. Surrounding the outer edges of the disks 60 are fins 68 which form separate compartments between adjacent pairs of disks. As shown in Fig. 5, these fins extend through the volute chamber 34 substantially to the loweredge of the air outflow pipe 30, the ends 70 being uniformly bent toward the outlet, to direct the flow of air pressure from each compartment between the disks 60 into the outflow pipe 32, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6.

Flexible air pressure distribution pipes 72 are connected to the outlet end of the discharge pipe 30 and extend to air pressure discharge nozzles 74 attached to the sides of the conveyance 10 as shown in Figs. 1 to 4. Suitable valves 76, operable from within the conveyance, are provided in the pipes 72 for controlling the flow. The nozzles are of the same general construction as those disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 462,354, in that they are of flat formation with their edges and side walls tapered toward their outlets to form long and narrow air discharge outlets, and provided with means for angular adjustment through a vertical plane. However, in the present invention the application of the discharge from the nozzles differs from that in my copending application referred to in that in the present invention the chief purpose of the arrangement is to create vertexes over the roof surface of the conveyance so that the vacuums within the vortexes will effect the lifting of the conveyance into the air. A simplemeans of adjustment of the nozzles 74 to desired angles is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, in which the nozzle 74 is attached at one end to the conveyance by means of a ball joint 78, mounted in a support 79, which enables the nozzle to be adjusted in any direction. Near the other end an arm is attached to the nozzle. At the free end of the arm a rod 82 is connected thereto. This rod extends into the conveyance through a ball joint 84 mounted in a support 86 attached to a side wall 16 of the conveyance. On the outer end of the support 86 flat springs 88 engage the sides of the rod 82 to maintain it in lateral adjustment. Also flat springs 90 or other suitable devices in the ball joint 84 maintain the rod in adjusted position when pulled or pushed to adjust the nozzle through a vertical plane.

When air pressure is directed tangentially across opposite edges of an area on the roof of a conveyance, and in opposite directions, as indicated in Fig. l, the air will be forced into a spiral 89 around the area 91, as indicated by the arrows, the speed of the spiral circulation or flow being proportionate to the pressure at the discharge outlet. This produces a vortex and a vacuum over the area 91, and the conveyance will be lifted by the atmospheric pressure below the roof 12.

The structure of the blower unit 20 including the closely spaced disks 60 and the narrow blades 56 and 58 rigidly connected thereto provides a strong rotatable unit capable of withstanding the strain of the high velocity required to generate the high air pressure necessary to create effective vortexes for lifting the conveyance it into and propelling it through the air. The air is drawn into the opening 24 at approximately the speed of sound and the blades in each of the compartments between the disks build up the pressure in the volute chamber and discharge it into the manifold 32 between the curved ends 70 of the fins 63, from which it flows into the discharge pipe 30. As already mentioned the volute 66 begins at approximately the point 64, so that the air is under volute motion through approximately an entire revolution of the fan unit. The alternate sets of fan blades 56 and 58 are preferably arranged on the housing 54 in staggered relation, asindicated in Fig. 5, that is, the next set of longer blades 56 beyond those shown are placed at an angle of 45 degrees and the next set of shorter blades 58 are placed horizontally and vertically. This increases the strength of the fan unit. The conveyance may be provided with wheels 98. Although the conveyance 10 is shown as being rectangular in plan, it may be of any other form desired. Also, as many nozzles 74 as required maybe employed.

Obviously, various modifications in the construction and arrangement of my improved gravity control apparatus may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments of my invention shown and described are intended to be illustrative, only, and not limited to the specific construction and arrangement shown.

I claim:

A combination of the class described including a conveyance having a, roof, an air pressure fan unit mounted in said conveyance, air conduits communicating at one end with the air outlet of said fan unit, said conduits having at their other ends connections to jet nozzles, the edges of said nozzles being flared toward the discharge outlets and the sides being outwardly divergent thereby forming long and narrow discharge outlets, two of said nozzles being attached to said conveyance on the same side thereof, one at each end, and another nozzle attached to said conveyance on the opposite side thereof, in approximately a central position relative to the other two nozzles, all of said nozzles being arranged to discharge air pressure across the opposite edges of areas of the surface of said roof for the purpose of creating a vortex surrounding and a vacuum within said areas to lift said conveyance into the air.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,353,955 Hering Sept. 28, 1920 1,553,201 Sutton Sept. 8, 1925 2,160,666, McMahan May 30, 1939 2,437,732 Ferrel Mar. 16, 1948 

